anahorvath.com

Author: Ana

  • Knowing What’s Real in the Modeling and Acting Industries

    modeling

    Before I get started on this post, I would like to make it clear that I am not trying to trash any particular agency or group. I am simply sharing my experience and hopefully helping those who are interested in the modeling and acting industries stay away from scams and fakes. There are a lot of great agencies and people out there who will truly help you get what you want and there are also a lot of agencies and people who are completely in it for the money.

    If the modeling and/or acting industries are something you are interested in getting into, I HIGHLY recommend doing as much research as you can on the various agencies in your area and in your state or country. I recommend learning about which agencies are legit and which are not. I recommend reading about the strengths of each agency and seeing if they are the best fit for you and what you want. Remember that you SHOULD NEVER be asked to pay to attend an audition or casting if the agency is legit. You should also never have to pay to join an agency. Any contracts signed or deals made should involve no payments on your part.

    Onto my story now. I’ve been a part of an agency in Denver for the past couple of years that required me to pay to attend a “modeling” school for 60 hours. That part should have IMMEDIATELY been a red flag to my family and I but we went on with it because the deal seemed very legit. You attend the modeling/acting school every other Saturday until you complete the course and then you get a contract with the agency tied to the school and then you have the opportunity to get local work as a model or actor. This agency also attends an “international” modeling and acting convention which gives aspiring models and actors the opportunity to showcase themselves before casting directors and various agencies from around the world. To this day, I still question the legitimacy of many of the agencies that attend the convention. There are a couple of agencies that attend this particular convention that I know are real but I’m still a bit iffy. And guess what? If you’re selected to be a part of this “elite team” to attend the convention, YOU HAVE TO PAY TO GO. Hmmmmm. Even more fishy now, right?

    Ever since that trip in 2016 (I think?) I have been on the hunt for a better agency and I’m working on it, but I have to wait until my contract finishes with this agency. This past year, I dealt with some extremely odd incidents with them. About part way through the year, my mom received an email that they had dropped me. There was no explanation. So my mom called the agency and they explained that my contract had expired and that I was no longer with them. They told me that they would still love to represent me though and see me again in classes. Interestingly enough though, my contract had not expired… We moved on from that and continued with the agency and that brings me to yesterday now.

    Yesterday, I attended a pre-casting for our upcoming fashion week at my agency. They were worried about sending too many models to the actual audition so they help a pre-audition. Fair enough. I arrived and walked before the agency director and her secretary and all of the other models in the pre-casting. I have been practicing my walking for months and I know that I’ve been putting the work in, since I competed at Miss Colorado USA last October. After all of the models walked, the director made a decision and I was not selected to attend the actual casting.

    That part didn’t bug me. It was the comments after. My director stood before all of the models after the decisions were made and said that she was highly disappointed in some of her previous convention attendees (like myself). She mentioned being embarrassed and then recommended I come back for more classes! I know that I’ve worked hard to have the body I currently do and I know that my runway walk was better than half of the models that were picked to attend the real casting! And while I do want to give credit to some of the girls that walked at that precasting that should walk at a big fashion week event like the one coming up, many of the models there would NEVER be cast for something like that if they were with a legit agency.

    I find it extremely frustrating that I allowed myself to get into a situation like this and I hope that those of you reading this who aspire to be actors or actresses or models learn to be careful and not make the same mistakes I have. I feel that somehow, I belong in either the modeling or acting world and I will continue to put my best foot forward and put myself out there. Now though, I know that I will never allow what happened to me to ever happen again. Have a good week.

  • I’m Addicted to BurgerFi

    What can I say? I’m a sucker for a good burger and fries! This weekend, Allyson had a tennis tournament at a new tennis facility in Denver and after her first match, we made a trip to my favorite burger joint in Denver, BurgerFi.

    There is just something about burgers containing antibiotic-treated and hormone free meat them so different and SO GOOD. Wow. The double cheeseburger is my personal favorite but their chicken sandwiches are also very yummy, and I have my sister to back me up on this one! Their fries are also to die for, in my opinion and are probably the best fries I’ve ever had in my entire life. Great food, great service, 10/10 recommend.

    Haha, and my sister’s tournament still continued today and unfortunately she lost her match. She played well though. And guess where we went for dinner tonight? Based on the title of this post and the entire mood of it, I hope you guessed BurgerFi. I’m honestly very glad that the closest BurgerFi to me is in Denver otherwise, I’m pretty sure I would beg my parents to take me there wayyyyyy too often or I would drive myself there and get what I want. That’s how much I like the food and restaurant overall!

    If you’re in the Denver area around the Denver Art Museum looking for a place to eat, BurgerFi is a good place to try. The food may be on the more expensive side of things, but you’re paying for some high quality food so it makes sense. I really think that it’s worth it.

    I hope you all had a wonderful New Year’s Eve and Day and started 2019 off on a good note. Have a great week and I’ll see you all next Sunday! 🙂

  • New Year’s Resolutions and Bob Ross Paintings

    resolutions

    I hope you all had a wonderful Christmas and I’d like to wish you all a very happy upcoming new year. 2019 is going to be a good one! My sister sure seems to think so considering that she graduates from high school. 🙂 For this upcoming year, there are a couple of resolutions I would like to make for myself. Most of my resolutions revolve around my personal appearance because that’s something that I really haven’t been happy with in the past. I’ve been working out really hard during my time at college and I have seen results losing around 15 lbs, but I know I can work even harder to really strive for the body I want.

    My first resolution, as sort of mentioned above revolves around my physical appearance. For those of you who have been around my blog for a long time, you will know that I dealt with foot and ankle injuries for two years and gained a lot of weight as a result of sitting for so long. I went from being a tri-sport, 125 lb girl to 160 lb person who felt unhappy and embarrassed with my appearance. For how active I used to be, I was disappointed with what I had become and I really wanted to change that. I personally feel like I became really unhealthy then, both physically and mentally, and I am still working to improve that.

    For this year, I would love to finally be happy with my body. With this in mind, the goal is to be healthy, not to lose weight. I’ve found that if I focus on the numbers, I become discouraged or frustrated and that puts me in a bad place. If I focus more on the various workouts I do and the foods I eat and an overall change to have a healthier lifestyle, I think that the changes I make will become more permanent and better for me mentally and physically. By keeping my mind happy and keeping workouts fun but challenging, I know that I can stick to this resolution.

    Another resolution I have is to experiment more with my clothing. I have a lot of really cute clothing that I’ve gathered over the years and I feel like my lack of confidence has prevented me from wearing what I really want to wear. I really like a lot of cute tops and dresses and I’ve never really caught onto all the short shorts and crop top stuff but I feel like my typical leggings and a t-shirt or sweatpants just isn’t what I want to wear all the time. CONFIDENCE is going to be key for 2019. I want to gain the confidence to be the person I know I truly am and wear all of the cute stuff I have!

    In addition to these resolutions, I would like to read more books this year. Getting ready for college and then actually starting college left me so so so busy and I feel that I missed out on a lot of reading this past year. I love reading and something that I’ve always enjoyed using as a way to relax. It’s important to step away from the screens and studying and take time to enjoy a good book and I’m going to make that happen this year!

    Now some of you might be asking about the title of this post. How do Bob Ross paintings fit into all of this? Well they don’t really fit into the whole idea of resolutions, but my sister and I just got done painting one of Bob Ross’s paintings. We followed one of his episodes and it was SUPER fun but oh boy, oil paint is MESSY! We still had a lot of fun and got some pretty cool paintings out of it. Maybe I’ll share a picture of those paintings when I get a chance. They’re going to need some time to dry and maybe then I’ll post it.

    Well I hope you all have a wonderful New Year’s Eve and I wish you all only the best in 2019!

  • Christmas 2018… Merry Christmas Everyone!

    christmas 2018

    Christmas 2018 is coming in quick! I tend to leave these posts a bit shorter just because the holidays are always a busy time and this year, my family and I procrastinated BIG TIME. I still have so much shopping to do for my family and our neighbors. AH. It’s fine. Anyway, I would just like to wish you all a very Merry Christmas and a happy holidays. I hope that you all enjoy time with family and friends.

    Let’s all make sure to remember the reason for the season and remember that this time of year is not about the gifts even though that does make the season much more fun. It’s more important to give during the holidays and make memories with family and friends. Thanks again to all of you for taking time to read my blog and check out my website. I really appreciate you being here and can’t wait to see where this next year takes us all! Once again, I hope your Christmas 2018 is wonderful. Have a great day! 🙂

  • Done With First Semester!

    By now, some of you are probably sick of hearing about my school life and all of the hullabaloo leading up to this past week. Sorry to disappoint you if that’s the case, but I promise, this is the last one of it’s kind for a while! Finals week was rough, but I made it and my wonderful five week break has begun! It’s really crazy to think about how fast this first semester flew by.

    It only seems as if I was at Ram Welcome (which is CSU’s big orientation before the first week of school for new students) was yesterday! I feel like was just moving in and honestly, I’ll be moving out of my room before you know it.

    This past week I only had two actual finals, which was SUPER DUPER nice. I had a final for my chemistry lecture and for my honors biology lecture. Both were manageable and even though I didn’t get the grade I wanted on my chemistry final, I still made the Dean’s List which I am extremely proud of. 🙂 I studied really hard and worked my butt off this semester to make sure I start college on the right foot and I can see that the hard work I put in paid off. It’s important to start off strong in your first semester of college (I’m talking to all of you high school seniors getting ready to go to college soon)!

    And what would finals week be without getting sick. Haha, boy did I get the rough end of it. The week before finals week, I was definitely getting sick and I COULD FEEL IT. My sinuses hurt and I was coughing and feeling cold all the time. I did all I could to not get sick during finals week, but that still didn’t keep the yuck away. Eventually, I got SUPER sick and the night before my biology final was a real fun one. Can you sense the sarcasm? We’ll just say that I spent a lot of time in the bathroom that night, and what really sucks is that I have a communal bathroom and I was also playing the “don’t wake your roommate” game. I spent a lot of time in bed before my biology final that same night and thank goodness I was feeling well enough to trek across campus then. Yikes. The stomach bug is not a nice thing.

    It’s been nice to be home the last couple of days and I look forward to the wonderful time I get to spend with family and friends over these next couple of weeks. Cheers to first semester and I can’t wait to see what college holds for me next!

  • Done With Dead Week

    dead week

    This past week was ROUGH. Wow. I had a 12 page lab report to write, a 10 page paper to also write, a genetics disease presentation to prepare, and a pile of chemistry homework to complete. On top of that, I have two finals to study for. Ladies and gentlemen, I present you with dead week.

    For those of you who don’t know what I’m talking about, dead week is lovely name given to the week before finals in college. This is typically where final papers, presentations, and speeches occur so it’s awful. On top of this professors are all trying to cram in that last little bit of information to make your brains actually explode.  

    As usual, I managed to get sick the week before finals.  I think that’s stress-related and probably also ties into the fact that I’ve been running on very little sleep lately. This all seems so perfect with dead week. Being sick makes me feel like I’m dying sometimes because of all the coughing and sinus pain and throat pain. So much fun, haha. I’m ready for a six-week long break. At this point I know I deserve it and I bet many other of you college students out there can relate. I just need a long break from dining hall food, my dorm, and campus itself. I love my school and all of the people I’ve met but this break will actually save me from going insane. 🙂 Hopefully people can relate to this. 

    After my two finals are done, I’m done with my first semester of college! Oh my goodness, that flew by! I’m almost there and so are you college kids out there reading this! Best of luck to you all on finals. You’re all going to do so well! Stay healthy, stay strong, and let’s get this semester done!

  • My Vision for the World

    My vision for the world

    There are a lot of ways in which our world is in a great place. There’s better access to medicine and treatments for people all over the world. People are living longer. The quality of life for many has improved. While all of this and more is true, there are also plenty of ways in which our world needs improvement. There’s so much hate. People are so sensitive nowadays. No one listens to anyone. People are more worried about themselves and their stupid online profiles than how they actually appear in real life. 

    There’s a lot of things I wish I had the power to do on my own to make this world a better place for all. I know that I can’t individually change the world, but I know that with the help of people like you (thanks for being here!), we can make the world more of what we want it to be. For this world, I see:

    • No hate. Be good to one another, please. 
    • Kindness. The header on my home page says it… Have courage and be kind. 🙂 Please share this message. I keep this in mind every day. I think it’s so important.
    • Celebration of differences. We’re all beautiful and wonderful individuals. We need to take time to recognize this more often.
    • Good education for all. Knowledge is power. By being educated, we all make better decisions and have a greater understanding of ourselves and the world around us. 
    • Self-love, and when I say this I mean the healthy kind! It’s important to appreciate yourself for who you are. It’s important to love your body for what it is. You’re perfect for who you are and there’s absolutely no need to compare yourself to others because everyone is different!
    • Less talking and more doing. People, take action if you see something you don’t like! If there’s something you know you can help change, go out and make that change!
    • Respect for all. Even if you disagree with a person and their opinions, you should respect them. Be professional and work with people even if you don’t get along. You can hate them all you want, but when you’re around them, you should be respectful, caring, and pleasant.
    • Good health. Mentally, physically, and emotionally!
    • Healthy relationships for all.
    • No anger. Selena Gomez says it best in her song, Kill em’ with Kindness. “No war in anger was ever won.”  
    • Peace. If there was less anger and less fighting we could have this. Agreeing to disagree would also help us have a more peaceful world.
    • Honesty. I feel like if we all stopped trying to please everyone by telling white lies every so often, the world would be a better place. With honesty, I think it’s also important that we all learn to be true to ourselves! Honesty is something very important to me and I feel like I’ve made myself a better person by being as honest as I am with myself and others.
    • More smiling. When I become an orthodontist later in life, I hope that I can help people feel good about themselves and smile more. In addition to this, I just want more happiness in the world. We could all use some more happiness. 
    • Gratitude. Tying back to my Thanksgiving posts, we all need to be more thankful for everything we have. There is SO much to be thankful for.
    • Unity. If we all celebrated our differences, learned that it’s ok to disagree, and had some respect for one another, I think that we could be a more united world.
    • Love. Mark 12:30-31: Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind and with all your strength. The second is this: Love your neighbor as yourself. There is no commandment greater than these.

    As I said earlier, I think the world we live in is a pretty amazing place but there’s so much potential for it to be even better for everyone. I hope you keep these things in mind and find little ways in which you can make a difference in the lives of those around you. I hope you can find ways to make the world around you the world you want it to be. Have a great week everyone 🙂

  • A Much Needed Break

    A much needed break

    That was a WONDERFUL break, oh my goodness. I hope you all enjoyed time with family and friends this past week, and especially on Thanksgiving. I sure know I did!

    When I first got home from school last weekend, I don’t think I’ve ever seen Marty, Boo, or Bobo so excited. I’ve been home for weekends, but I think they could tell I was staying for a longer period of time, which was adorable. My mom, dad, and sister, were excited too of course! I really missed seeing them every day. 🙂 I love my family and I’m so glad I chose to attend an in-state college. I don’t know what I would do if I couldn’t come home on weekends.

    At the beginning of the week, I got back into the swing of tennis which was amazing. I played like I haven’t played in a few weeks so it was quite the scene, but I enjoyed it. Hitting with my dad and sister again was so much fun. Just in general, not having to think about chemistry and my typical pile of homework was FUN!

    As usual, my family and I went to New Mexico to spend time with my aunt, uncle, and grandpa for Thanksgiving which is always a great time. I’m sad we had to come back early this time around though. The weather was crummy yesterday and I had to be back to school today, so we drove back yesterday.

    The time I get to spend with family is always great though. Even though it’s short, we make the most of it. Thanksgiving itself was filled with A LOT of great food and of course, my favorite, pumpkin pie. I get a little too excited for dessert on Thanksgiving because I absolutely love pumpkin pie. I’m pretty sure I ate an entire pumpkin pie by myself throughout my weekend in New Mexico. My family and I played fun games, ate some more, went on a ride with my grandpa (he loves going out to see the airport), and caught up with my aunt and uncle.

    And of course, there was homework for me to do too. I had a speech to write, project to watercolor, and a gigantic post lab to finish for my chemistry lab. I got it all done, but doing homework over break really sucks. I can’t wait for winter break! There will be no homework for six whole weeks and when I come back to school, I’ll be in totally different classes. I’m pumped.

    Only two more weeks til finals and then it’s winter break! Once again, I hope you all had a great Thanksgiving and if you were on break, I hope you enjoyed that too. 🙂 Have a great week everyone, and remember to find something to be thankful for every day.

  • Thankful

    thankful

    Thank God this past week is over! Wow was that rough. All of my professors and TA’s decided this week was the best week to turn in papers and lab reports and also take exams. I’m SO glad it’s over.

    As we approach Thanksgiving, once again, I just wanted to take some time to talk to you all about the importance of being thankful. When I say this, I don’t mean that we just need to be thankful on Thanksgiving. Being thankful for EVERYTHING is important on a daily basis. There is so much that we take for granted from day-to-day, and that’s not how life should be at all. It’s a miracle that I’m sitting here writing this blog to you all and it’s a miracle that you’re sitting on the other end reading it! 

    Throughout the month, I’ve taken time to reflect on what I’m thankful for every day. I was really wanting to add this list up to 30, for each day of November, but I feel like this is something I’ll continue doing anyway. By taking time to recognize all the good in my life, I feel like there’s really not a lot I can complain about! 

    Here are 18 things I’m thankful for:

    1. It’s November! This year has really flown by.
    2. The fact that I get to help my mom volunteer at COMOM tomorrow.
    3. My mom who helps keep my teeth in good shape and a family that can afford dental care.
    4. Time with family, especially my health and ability to play tennis with my dad and sister 🙂
    5. Pre-dental club and wax whittling (I’m a dork)
    6. The fact that I can handle an honors section biology class. I’m also extremely thankful for Harry Potter and that entire world. In my honors seminar on children’s literature we are reading Harry Potter and I love it way too much. Proud Gryffindor 🙂
    7. Wednesdays. It’s almost the end of the week!
    8. Fun and cool lab substitutes for my honors section biology lab
    9. Fun emails from my dad about foxes creeping into peoples’ yards
    10. Weekends! Sleeping in is pretty great too
    11. Brunch with my roommate and honorary roommate (I say this because she’s in our room more than she is in her own)
    12. No more homework in my honors recitation! Good meetings with pre-health advisors are great too. I feel so much more sure of what I want to do in my life 🙂
    13. Discipline to study hard and hopefully do well on my biology exam (Thanks Mom and Dad!)
    14. My adorable sister who is so so so excited for me to come home (Me too Allyson, I can’t wait!!)
    15. My lab TA for chemistry. He’s a really good guy and he’s also not bad looking (haha). He’s helped me a lot this semester. 
    16. Getting an 85% on my chem exam! This last exam was super duper hard and a bunch of people I talked to failed the exam. I’m thankful for my abilities to study (once again) and go with my gut. Hard work pays off!
    17. BEING HOME! I missed my family and also my doggies and bird. 
    18. Showering without shoes. I’ve been showering in flip flops for the past 3 months and the communal bathrooms are pretty nasty. They’re cleaned daily and I’m so grateful to the cleaning staff (I couldn’t do what they do!) but the fact that a bunch of other girls use the same shower that I use kinda freaks me out.

    Even the little things in life mean a lot. It’s all about perspective. If you ever feel like your life sucks or you’re hitting a rough patch, find one thing to be thankful for. I bet you that someone in the world has it much worse than you do, so that’s important to recognize. 

    I hope you all have a wonderful Thanksgiving this week and I hope that you all get to enjoy some quality time with friends and family. If you’re in college, like moi, and are on break, you deserve it! I don’t know about you, but I SOOOO needed this break. Honestly, everyone deserves this break. Have a great week everyone! Don’t forget to be thankful. 🙂

  • T-Minus One Week Until Thanksgiving Break

    Thanksgiving Break

    Man has this semester flown by! It feels like I arrived at CSU, blinked, and now I’m sitting at my desk watching the snow fall trying to not be stressed about all of the stuff that’s happening this upcoming week. I need it to be Thanksgiving break!

    This upcoming week I have a chemistry exam as well as a biology exam. On top of that, I have a paper due for my honors’ seminar (which is already done) and a lab report due for my biology lab. I’m feeling ok for my tests, but we shall see what happens. I would love to hold my A’s for both classes heading into finals. 

    So after this week, I’m on Thanksgiving break (woohoo) and then when I come back from that, I’ll have 2 weeks of classes and then finals and then WINTER BREAK! I’m so excited for college winter break because it isn’t the tiny thing I used to get in high school. Oh no no. In college, or at least at CSU, we get six whole weeks off! I’m very excited. I see a lot of tennis in my future. 🙂 

    I’m going to have to end this blog here today, because I have a lot of work to do. I hope this wasn’t too boring and I hope that those of you also getting ready to go on Thanksgiving break are surviving. Have a great week everyone!